Elliot Anderson opted to sign for Manchester City over Manchester United this summer and then lit the blue touch paper ahead of the first derby of the season.
Not content with making his preference for a move to the Etihad over Old Trafford clear this summer, Elliot Anderson opted to stir the pot on arrival at Manchester City and ensure the reception he receives on the first derby day of the season will be more than a little spicy.
Anderson was United’s top target for a midfield vacancy this summer and he was admired on his last visit to Old Trafford, when he shone for Nottingham Forest towards the end of last season. But his £116million fee proved too steep in a summer when United had to rebuild their midfield and the England international wanted to move to City anyway.
Keen to win over new friends at the Etihad, he used an interview on the club’s official website to take a potshot at United, which is always a sure-fire winner amongst City supporters and staff. He called his new club the “kings of Manchester,” a remark which didn’t go unnoticed at United.
Anderson was pointing out that City had held the whip hand in this fixture “for as long as I’ve known”, which isn’t exactly inaccurate but will also fan the flames ahead of Sunday’s Old Trafford showdown.
It was a remark that United head coach Michael Carrick was never going to agree with. Carrick won his first game in charge against Pep Guardiola’s City in January, but he is aware the tide has turned since his playing days, when he won 17 of his 31 derbies, losing just three.
“I’m definitely not using that phrase at all, no,” said Carrick, when Anderson’s jibe was put to him, but he did go on to deliver a more balanced appraisal of how United are trying to claw their way back up towards clubs like their cross-town rivals.
“I understand it, and I think going into the Champions League game and talking about the expectation there, I think it’s a really good thing that it’s shifted in a way, and all of a sudden there are different things asked of us now to maybe what was a few months ago, and we’re in the Champions League.
“That in itself shows the steps we’ve made, and we need to be in the later stages of that, and then the expectations around that. We know that, and we’re humble enough and realistic enough to know where we’ve come from in recent history, and we need to, and we want to be better, and we want to be challenging more. So that’s where we’re at.
“It doesn’t mean that we can’t and we won’t. It means we still hope, we believe, and we expect that we can be and we should be, but I understand the bigger picture.”
Anderson’s presence as part of City’s £326million midfield rebuild is a fascinating subplot to Sunday’s fixture. While Anderson, Enzo Fernandez and Ayyoub Bouaddi have reshaped the Blues’ midfield at considerable expense, United spent £155million on three midfielders of their own.
Carlos Baleba is yet to make his debut after signing from Brighton, but Andrey Santos and Youri Tielemans have settled in well and the latter, a £35million addition from Aston Villa, has been impressive in the last three games.
“I think they’re all technical and able to take the ball and play forward, whether that’s a pass, a run, a dribble, and connect the game forward. I think it’s nice to be able to draw upon that and have that in the team,” Carrick said of his midfield options, including Kobbie Mainoo and Mason Mount.
“Youri’s settled in fantastically. Andrey settled in great. Mason, we’re asking him to do slightly different things to maybe what he’s done in the past, but I think you’ve seen tonight [vs Sabah] and in pre-season how natural it is for him to be able to do that.
“Going back to Youri, I think every game he’s getting better, and you can see the connections and the understanding between each other is growing all the time.”
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